November 16, 2016—Renewing the Health Accord

November 16, 2016—Renewing the Health Accord

In the spring of 2014, the Senate Liberals opened our Caucus doors to Canadians. Through our Open Caucus initiative we are learning, discussing and debating issues of national importance. This effort is hosted by the Senate Liberal Caucus but is intended to be non-partisan. All parliamentarians will be invited, as well as members of the press and the general public.

On November 16th, we invited you to join us in a discussion on the renewal of the Health Accord. The last health accord was negotiated in 2004 and expired in 2014. We are currently in the final year to honour the longstanding funding portion of the agreement. Health care makes up the largest single expenditure of each provincial budget; for 2004, in Ontario alone, the budget allocation towards health care was 39.8% at $29.2 billion and in 2014 it rose to 42.1% at $51.8 billion. There are many areas which are of particular concern such as: the federal transfer of funds, our aging demographic, pharmacare, homecare, access to mental health services, wait times, and Indigenous health.

To address this important topic we invited a panel of witnesses to discuss what should be taken into account in the renewed Health Accord.